Australian coconut water brand H2coco has this week kicked off a US push at Expo West, one of the world's largest natural product trade shows, in California.
H2 products are currently on show at the expo, which runs from 6-8 March at the Anaheim Convention Center in California.
Pure Pink Coconut Water, Functional Coconut water, Collagen water and world-first innovations H2melon Long life watermelon water and H2nana Real Banana Water are among the products on show at Expo West, which attracts over 3200 exhibitors and more than 85,000 attendees.
Founder and CEO David Freeman started the company from a small room in his Bondi Beach home, and the company now sells its products in over 14,000 retail locations including Coles and Woolies supermarkets, as well as petrol and convenience stores such as 7-Eleven.
H2coco revenue has seen compound annual growth of around 100 per cent, rising from $1.3 million in the 2013 financial year, to $24 million in 2018, and the brand is also exported to eight countries.
Freeman, who spoke to Food & Drink Business ahead of the show, said that the aim of the show is to find distribution partners, engage with retailers and get its products into mouths and hands of these potential partners.
“Our business is a premium offering. We've done our due diligence and competitive analysis and we believe we can bring value to the category in the US," he says.
“This has been a lot of work in the making. We've been visiting the show in the last few years, and we've been visiting the US for many years, meeting with potential partners. We have engaged one distributor already, and we have engaged a broker.
“We are arranging meetings for the ten days we there. We've been targeting specific retailers to meet up with, and we have pre- and post-show meetings set up.”
